two weeks in china. this was my route.

leo

i had exactly 15 days. here is what i did.

day 1 arrived in beijing. jet lagged so just walked around the hutong area and ate dinner.

day 2 forbidden city. spent like 4 hours there. then jingshan park for the view.

day 3 great wall. mutianyu section. took a bus from dongzhimen. cable car up and toboggan down. fun day.

day 4 morning train to xi'an. 5 hours. evening muslim quarter food street.

day 5 terracotta warriors. a bit far from the city but worth it. the pit 1 is massive.

day 6 bike on the city wall in the morning. then flight to chengdu.

day 7 chengdu pandas. the research base is amazing. saw baby pandas.

day 8 hot pot at night. also went to the opera to see the face changing thing.

day 9 flight to shanghai.

day 10 the bund and yu garden.

day 11 former french concession and shopping.

day 12 day trip to suzhou by train. 30 minutes. the gardens are beautiful.

day 13 back to beijing by high speed train. 4.5 hours.

day 14 last minute shopping and packed.

day 15 flew home.

if i had more time i would have added zhangjiajie or guilin. next time.

this route felt a bit rushed but i saw the main things. if you have three weeks you can slow down a bit.

total cost including hotels trains food and flights within china was about 1600 dollars. not including international flight.

happy to answer questions if you are planning a similar trip.